Chapter 7 Liquid heaven...

It took hours to clean the better part of four hours to skin the Juji and pack the fur away, along with the choicest cuts of meat, which I packed with snow and placed inside my bag wrapped in minx fur. The rest I was forced to leave, seeing as I had no hope to carry the nearly thousand pound animal with me. Normally this was when others of my tribe would come to harvest the meat, between myself and about fourteen others it was not too hard to get a full Juji back to camp.

The thought brought pangs of hurt to my chest, and a longing to go see my tribe and parents. But I couldn’t, even if I wanted to the curse I had burned into my own soul forced me to find some way to bring the goddess low.

It was times like this I had wished I could meet the old me, I would tell her the best revenge is simply defiance, if she had allowed me to live in peace, then we would both be happier for it. But instead in my previous lives, I had carved such hate in my soul that now, even with the peaceful life I had been living for the past fifteen years I still burned with hate and the need for vengeance.

I envy souls who forget after death.

Ignorance is bliss…

SIghing I finish the rest of the sprint back towards town, making sure to wash my bloody paws off in an icy creek, cant be having the guards see that, they don't trust me enough as is…

As I am walking back in town I see someone I know, not from Harland’s group,but rather one of the traders that makes his way up to my tribe every month or so, I now know that he is swindling my people but I can't really call him on it seeing as I want him to deliver letters for me to my family.

I almost reach him but am intercepted by Harland’s group.

“Holy shit,” he puts his hands on his hips and looks at me. “I know you said you used your claws as weapons but holy shit!” I look past him at the trader who is about to dissipate into the crowd.

“Rinmua is sorry she will talk to you in a second but she needs to talk to trader Altan first!” I weave around him and towards Altan. “Trader Altan! Trader Altan!“ I call his name as I weave between people, he turns and looks at me, a look of blanks surprise on his face. He never struck me as a bad guy, more like he was simply an opportunist. He has darker skin and black hair with bright green eyes and is cleanly shaven.

“Rinmua? Why are you here?” his surprise is actually quite a funny look on his face.

“Rinmua is becoming an adventurer!” I say as I hear the sounds of Harland’s group pulling up behind me.

“Ah that is to bad, it means I am going to lose my best Ursinar pelt provider, doesn't it?” he asks, but he has a smile on his face, and the sour sound of his voice was just for play.

“She supposes so,” I laugh.

“How can I help you then?” he asks.

“Rinmua was wondering if she could have you take letters to her parents and sister for her?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I can do that, there is only one issue, if you are an adventurer it means you will be traveling around a lot-”

“Give it to the guild, they will forward it to whatever guild house she checks into, its even free seeing as it will be shipped out with other paperwork,” Harland says, offering a solution before the man even has a chance to finish speaking.

“That works, here,” he pulls out a book and rips a page out of it before using a piece of sharpened charcoal to write on it. “Send any letters you have to this address, it is my house and I will take them with me,” he hands me the paper, which not only has the address in Gorioan but also in Khatan.

“She wonders if you can please wait, she wishes to send a letter with you now,” I say dropping the bag on the ground and fishing around.

“I don't leave until tomorrow at noon, so that is fine,” he looks at me, “Ah, so that was what happened to that cloth, I wondered what your sister was going to do with it, had I known it was meant for you I would have suggested green or blue, oh well, it still looks good on you.”

“She thanks you for the compliment!” I finally found what I was looking for, pulling the lone silver coin out of the bag I hand it to him.

“What is this?” he asks as he looks at the shining coin in his hand. “There is no need, it's not like I will be going out of my way to do this~”

“Rin insists,” I place my two middle fingers against my lips and bow my head in the traditional thank you, smiling he mirrors my movements and returns the gesture.

“Please, be careful out there little kitten,” he smiles, speaking the words not in the common human tongue but in my own language. I smile and return the gesture speaking in Khatan aswell.

“I will,” AH it is so much easier to speak properly in my own tongue! “I will see you tomorrow with a letter.”

“Very well, I will be here at noon,” he says switching back to Gorioan and bows, taking his leave. As he walks away I purr contentedly my tail curling and uncurling in joy.

“Now that is fucking adorable,” Harland says, before reaching out and scratching one of my ears.

I can't help it, I purr even louder when I felt it…

***

“What is this?” my voice shakes a little, as I stare in amazement at the cup in my hands.

Surely this is the drink of the gods?

Not a drink meant to be tasted and enjoyed by a mere mortal?

Liquid heaven?

“What?” Tamerian looks over at the mug in my hands, “Its milk right?”

No, he is wrong, it cant be milk, it tastes so damned good… I don't answer I simply down the contents, feeling the soothing coolness as it slides down my throat, knowing I am purring up a storm as I drink it all.

“Rin wonders if she can have another?” I ask coming up for air, I have yet to finish the cup I have, but I dread the feeling of getting to the bottom of this cup and seeing it empty.

“Ha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Harland laughs at the top of his lungs, slamming his fist over and over into the tabletop before collapsing into a giggling heap. “Of course the cat likes the milk~” he wipes the tears out of his eyes still chuckling to himself. Even Alaina is attempting not to laugh while looking at me.

What it's really damned good okay?

“Let me give you some advice,” Tamerian says leaning in close to me, “Whenever you find that drink, the one you think you would rather drink than breath air, that is when you must only take a little, for it is that drink that will drag you down, addiction is a nasty thing let me tell you...”

“You should listen to him, after all, he has been an alcoholic since he was five,” Alaina nods, trying to keep a straight face.

“ADDICTED TO MILK!” Harland falls into another fit of laughter, once again slamming his fist against the table.

It would seem as though I have gotten myself a rather odd assortment of friends...

Mother, Father, Sister.

I have reached the human village of Hulina, some distance from our tribe. I am safe and happy, I have made a number of new friends, they include Harland, a big bear of a man who helped me on the first day I arrived with adjusting to this new life, Tamerian, the mage who drinks too much, and Alaina, our healer. All of them are nice people, and I was able to team up with them and start adventuring, well we will start that tomorrow.

Trader Alten lives here and I have gotten him to agree to carry letters back and forth between us. My party will be moving to a different town soon as this is only considered a small village to them, even with nearly five hundred people living here. So the letters might take a little longer to get back and forth between us.

I hope this letter finds you all well and healthy and look forward to hearing from you.

Love Rinmua.

P.S.

Trader Alten is swindling us, they pay me a silver five gold for a Juji pelt here in town…

P.P.S.

Milk is fucking delicious, make him apologize for swindling us with milk, trust me, you will thank me later…

P.P.P.S

Turu you were right, wearing clothes is mandatory, apparently, they punish people for not wearing clothes in areas that have other people here, its called public indecency...